There are literally hundreds of diets and diet books in the world today. Most of these diet books or almost all diets have their roots in the American or the Industrial way of eating and are heavily influenced by the rising obesity in the west. All diets promise you something special. Where one diet is low carb the other is low in fat, where a diet book promises you a loss of kilo a day the other promises teaches you how to eat as per your blood type, yet there are some which detox you to weight loss and other which tells you to stay hungry for an extended period of time in the name of intermittent fasting. There are literally so many diets out there that if you follow a diet pattern for a few weeks you will have a new one to follow for the rest of your life.

But there is an issue here, THERE IS NOTHING KNOWN AS DIETING. The word dieting has somehow been associated with starvation. Whenever we hear of diet what a layman perceives it to be is another low-calorie diet in which he/she would have to give away all their favorite foods and will be constantly bothered by rising hunger and cravings. But that is far from the truth and you may be enjoying all your favorite foods and still reach your weight goals. Of course, some amount of moderation and control will be required in the way you eat but that in no way means starvation and deprivation.

While listening to a talk by Dr. John Berardi, I couldn’t stop wondering at the statements he emphasized, during the course of his talk. He said that all diets in the world will work for somebody out there. he added that even if he starts saying stupid statements like “eating grass makes you lose weight” there would be a large section of people who would go to the lawn and start plucking grass and eat it too. What was glaring was that out of the people who are eating grass some of them will lose weight. And that is exactly what happens on almost all the diets in the world. you would find a section of people promoting a type of diet who have lost weight on it.

Every individual is different in a number of ways. The same program may work for someone and may not have any effect on the other person. However, almost all diets don’t work at all and even if they do there are certain reasons common to all why they work and why they will keep on working on some people.

1. One of the major reasons people lose weight on a diet is that when they go on any type of diet irrespective of its specificities they would at the same time eliminate most of the junk from their diets. Almost all diets will tell you to avoid certain foods and these foods are not common to any diet but are common to avoidance in general for a better living. These include excess sugar, trans fats, refined carbohydrates, too much preservative, and artificial sweeteners, etc. If you analyze these foods and you would see that the reasons to avoid these foods have been taught to us since our childhood and there is nothing special you are learning from a diet book. At the same time, almost all diets promote the addition of healthy foods to your regular eating like different colored fruits and vegetables, complex carbs, omega-3 rich fats, lean meats, etc. But do we really need a diet book to understand this? So in the real case, most diet books are reminding you of healthy eating and nothing else. Worse, some don’t even do that.
2. Another common reason most people lose weight on a diet is that every diet pattern whether low-fat, low carb, low protein, low-calorie or low in everything will some of the other how to reduce your overall calorie intake. If you closely monitor a particular diet pattern it would amount to the less total number of calories you consume in a day. Some reduce the calories drastically yet others reduce it gradually but somehow all diets will reduce calories in one way or the other. And the simple equation of less calorie intake and Vs total calorie expenditure in a day will make you lose weight. Though there are a number of permutations and combinations to this equation, in general, this equation works for most people.
3. Placebo effect – whenever a person starts following any diet book or a diet by a dietician they are psychologically geared to lose weight. Their entire effort is directed towards achieving a healthy weight and shedding those unwanted kilos. Say you are having a fever and a doctor gives you 2 tablets to consume, every alternate day. One day the doctor gives you the conventional medicine for fever and on the other day, you have prescribed nothing more than a salt or sugar tablet. Most people will get an equally powerful effect from both because their attitude is directed towards getting well. Your brain is ultra-powerful and whatever you can believe you can do it. This is exactly the principle used for the placebo effect.

After understanding the logic behind why someone will lose weight with any type of diet you need to understand the facts behind healthy and clean eating and the reasons to consume adequate calories not only to maintain healthy bodily functions but also to reduce cravings and rule out any nutritional deficiencies in the body.